It\u2019s almost a universal rule: \u00a0You have to know someone to get a job.<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s world,\u00a0it\u2019s easier than ever to reach supremely qualified job candidates from all over the world and get them to apply for jobs. \u00a0Yet, hiring managers still fall back to hiring friends, acquaintances and referrals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s less risk,\u201d they say. \u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t know what kind of baggage I\u2019d be getting if I hired a stranger.\u201d<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t deny the fact that being familiar with someone \u2013 their history, their personality, their work ethic \u2013 has value in selecting someone for a job. \u00a0But, please don\u2019t treat the \u201chiring a friend\u201d approach as having no risk.<\/p>\n
Actually, hiring friends and acquaintances has risks all its own.<\/p>\n
And I\u2019ll put one of those risks bluntly: \u00a0If terminating an employee becomes the right business decision for some unforeseen reason, it can be very hard to terminate a friend, acquaintance or referral.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll share a couple of real-life examples.<\/p>\n
Last year, a church in my neighborhood\u00a0bought a new building where they would not only house the church, but also a community center complete with a cafe. \u00a0They were diligent in making sure that the cafe was going to be ready for their grand opening. \u00a0They bought all the necessary equipment, planned out their food offerings, and hired staff. \u00a0One of the people they hired for a cashier role was the pastor\u2019s wife\u2019s boss\u2019 wife (got that?).<\/p>\n
All seemed to be going smoothly until the cafe manager abruptly quit. \u00a0Two days before the grand opening. \u00a0Ouch!<\/p>\n
Needing a warm body to replace the manager, guess who got promoted?<\/p>\n
Yep \u2013 the pastor\u2019s wife\u2019s boss\u2019 wife!<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll call her PWBW, for short.<\/p>\n
PWBW was a good fit for a cafe cashier role. \u00a0She had like 10 or 20 years of experience in the food industry.<\/p>\n
But she was no manager, much less a leader.<\/p>\n
In a few short months, she alienated many employees who quit specifically because of her. \u00a0In a\u00a0hot economy<\/a>, no business can afford to mistreat employees.<\/p>\n In addition, she engaged in some behavior that crossed some ethical and legal lines. \u00a0Some of the employees who stayed complained to the pastor to no avail.<\/p>\n Replacing\u00a0a toxic manager should be an easy decision for any organization. \u00a0But it wasn\u2019t for this church.<\/p>\n The relationship that existed between church leadership and PWBW made it quite difficult for them to make the right business decision. \u00a0Essentially, PWBW had the church by the B-A-L-L-S. \u00a0All because of the \u201cfriendship\u201d that made it easy to hire her.<\/p>\n This is an ongoing saga. \u00a0It\u2019s hard to see it end well. \u00a0Toxic employees like PWBW usually get increasingly toxic until something really blows up. \u00a0Church leadership either needs to summon divine intervention or grow a pair before what seems like the inevitable happens.<\/p>\n Now, for a second example. \u00a0And it is from early in my own career.<\/p>\n I hired a friend once. \u00a0It was a bet or sorts, but it worked out great. \u00a0At the time, it made me feel like hiring friends was an OK \u2013 maybe even preferable \u2013 thing to do. \u00a0When you and your friends are smart people, you won\u2019t face the problems people warn you about, I thought.<\/p>\n Fast forward a few years later. \u00a0This friend-employee\u2019s husband was looking for work.<\/p>\n He was not only a brilliant guy, but also a friend \u2013 someone I genuinely liked as a human being. \u00a0Would there be a problem with husband and wife working for the same company?<\/p>\n Again, I thought that smart people would be able to avoid the pitfalls that leaders read about. \u00a0I bet that everything would be fine. \u00a0So, I hired him.<\/p>\n Well, I won on the first bet. \u00a0Lost on the second.<\/p>\n The friend-employee\u2019s husband didn\u2019t work out so well. \u00a0The company wasn\u2019t a good cultural fit for him and he wasn\u2019t a good cultural fit for the company. \u00a0And having a healthy business culture is almost everything these days.<\/p>\n Ending the employment relationship was the right business decision.<\/p>\n But wanna talk about risk?<\/p>\n What would happen to the wife if the husband was let go? \u00a0Would she quit, leaving the organization down not one, but two people? \u00a0If she stayed, would it bring a new awkwardness to the organization\u2019s\u00a0culture?<\/p>\n Talk about a dilemma!<\/p>\n But, I had to do what I would advise the aforementioned pastor\u00a0to do: \u00a0grow a pair. \u00a0If I didn\u2019t, I\u2019d risk the culture of the organization imploding and the business potentially being harmed.<\/p>\n So, I offered the husband a generous severance and he accepted.<\/p>\n Fortunately, the wife stayed on board and continued to perform well. \u00a0I was lucky in that way. \u00a0I give her a ton of credit for that. \u00a0But, I can\u2019t help but feel that good personal relationships were tarnished a bit.<\/p>\n If I had to do it over again, I\u2019d do things differently.<\/p>\n So, that\u2019s why I advise you to use a great deal of caution when hiring friends, acquaintances and references (including existing employees\u2019 friends, siblings, parents, children and spouses). \u00a0It\u2019s not a risk-free proposition.<\/p>\n Of course, I\u2019m not saying that the ease of which someone can be fired should be a reason for them to be hired. \u00a0It isn\u2019t the most positive thinking to hire someone while simultaneously thinking of firing them. \u00a0You want your hiring decision to be the best decision you\u2019ve ever made. \u00a0You want the employment relationship to be great and to last forever. \u00a0If you\u2019re thinking of someone\u2019s termination as you extend an employment offer to him\/her, it kind of feels like a bad sign, you know?<\/p>\n But I am saying to watch out for situations where your leadership can be undermined by employees having a certain \u201cpower\u201d over you due to a \u201ccomplicated\u201d relationship. \u00a0In some cases, it may be less restrictive of your leadership capabilities to hire a complete \u2013 but properly vetted \u2013 stranger.<\/p>\n Recommended Reading<\/b><\/p>\n NLPA Learning<\/b><\/a>:<\/b>\u00a0Looking for authoritative procurement templates, tools, webinars, and more? Stop trying to create resources from scratch and start taking advantage of having exactly what you need right at your fingertips in\u00a0NLPA Learning<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s almost a universal rule: \u00a0You have to know someone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":1810,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-procurement"],"yoast_head":"\n\n